How to create Instagram covers for your profile

Happy Thursday, lovelies! How is your week going? Have you been slaying all of the goals you set for yourself this week? If not, don’t get hard on yourself at all because there is still a lot of time left!This week has been a great time for me to find out new things to further build my brand. As a blogger, Instagram is pretty much a prerequisite for starting a blog these days, no matter what your niche is. As Instagram constantly changes, working on perfecting your Instagram content is very important.

One change Instagram has made is Instagram highlights. Instagram highlights are a way to make your Instagram stories permanent and allow them to live on your profile. So, if you wanted to relive that one time you twerked correctly, IG highlights allows you to do so (joyful, joyful). Soon after Instagram highlights were added to Instagram, bloggers began to use the highlights to show different categories of their content. This is a great strategy to further promote your brand in the same area as your bio.

Bloggers have also used a feature to categorize their content called Instagram covers. Covers provide a bold, cohesive way to explain every section of your highlights that fits your page’s theme.When I first began seeing Instagram highlight covers, I was intimidated. I thought it would require a graphic designer or plenty of time that I didn’t have to complete. The lazy girl in me was ecstatic to know that the process takes less than 20 minutes. So, because I love y’all for real, I’m showing you how to create IG highlight covers.

Use the following steps for perfect Instagram covers

Step one: Find the correct apps

Creating Instagram highlight covers doesn’t require any extra software for your computer or something that you even have to pay money for. The only apps you need are Instagram (obvs), Phonto, a picture editing app, background eraser app and Google, Safari or any other browser you may use. All of these apps are free except for the background eraser app, which is $0.99. What I’ve learned, though, is the background eraser app isn’t necessary, so if you’re trying to save some coins, I wouldn’t download it.

Step two: Find the graphics

After you have the right apps, the next step is to design your covers. The first thing you have to do to make this happen is to find a color that fits your Instagram feed’s theme. Since my theme is all about color and vividness, I went with a glitter background. You can pick any color by selecting the color and typing “background”. After finding the color, make sure to save the image to your camera roll. The next step is to find the pictures that fit the content you want to promote on your page. Make sure to put in “transparent” at the end of the pictures. So, if you wanted to show your travel adventures, you would want to put in “travel photos transparent”. If you want your covers to be creative, Google has many options, just find the ones that fit your style. Once you’ve found them, make sure to save them to your camera roll.

Step three: Put it all together

This is where Phonto comes in. Once your photos and background have been selected, you can open Phonto to start building your covers. Once you open Phonto, click on the camera icon in the middle of the homepage. The icon will give you options for how to add a photo and you’ll want to click “photo albums” to go to the photos you’ve saved to your camera roll. Once you’re at your camera roll, click on the color background you’ve selected first. The app will give you options to filter, which you can definitely use if you want. After you find the background, add the transparent photo to the color background.

Step four: Putting it on Instagram

You may have seen your favorite influencers post icons in their Instagram stories that may have confused you at first. This is because adding your covers to your stories is the only way to have them on your profile. Once you post all of the highlight covers, they will instantly turn into archived stories. This is when you can add the covers to your highlights by clicking “new” or “edit” if you have highlights already. Once you title the highlight cover, click add and it will automatically be added your profile. Repeat these steps to have a professional, fake-it-till-you-make-it feed!

I hope this helps you see how completely easy adding an Instagram highlight cover is! As much as it irks my free spirit soul, staying ahead of these trends will grow your brand. It will also help your page look more stylish and cohesive, which is what will bring in potential readers and clients. If this helped, leave a comment so I can see your pretty profiles!